Don't Tease the Elephants
by MMMango
Summary: Lily has found the love of her life, but when circumstance force them apart, James Potter is the only boy there for her. Can she resist? And what if James decides that he doesn't want to be the backup? LJ


**Chapter One**

"You need a boyfriend, Lily," Jo intoned, with her legs resting against the back of the couch and hair grazing the ground.

"I have one," Lily retorted. "As you fully well know."

"A real one. Not one that lives a billion miles away! In America-land no less. You know James is always interested."

Mary-Ellen looked up from the Standard Book of Spell (Grade 6). "And what's wrong with _America-land_?"

"Nothing my dear American friend," Jo replied. "Except that the only things there are hamburgers."

"And fries." Lily added.

Mary-Ellen closed her book in a huff. "It is _not_ just hamburgers and fries! We have all the same things you have!"

"Calm your horses, Elle," Jo said. "You need a boyfriend too."

"Why? So we can make out all the time? Like you and Dave? And since when have you called me Elle?"

"Since now." Jo flipped over and sat down straight in her chair. "Lily, you've been holding that envelope since breakfast. Just open and read it for goodness sakes!"

But Lily had stopped listening. She simply stared at the envelope, addressed: _Lily Evans, Hogwarts, England. _She could have picked out the handwriting from anywhere. It was the same clean-cut, sharp letters that had written out "_I Love You_" on that pink card she had gotten last Valentine's Day, the same handwriting that had sent her letters for the past 5 months and 23 days.

"I'll see you guys at lunch." Lily said, rising from where she had been sitting in the stiff upright chair.

Jo looked at Mary-Ellen. "Did I imagine us having lunch about an hour ago?"

Mary-Ellen glared at her. "I don't know. We don't tell time in America-land."

"Grouch." Jo mumbled under her breath, then got up and stretched. "I fancy a walk. I'll go find Dave."

"A walk? What's that? I don't think we have those in America."

"Oh, shut up. You're being _ridiculous_."

Break.

She always savored these letters. They only came about once every two weeks, because international owl took a while. The other twelve letters she had read over and over again, looking for the littlest sign that he was as deeply in love with her as she was with him. Of course, he always signed it "_Love, Ryan_." Once, he had written, "_I always tell the other guys here about you. Lucas said he's going through the same thing. Maybe we'll meet his girl some day. I can hardly wait until that day._"

But the rest of the time, his letters generally consisted of the friends he had made, the things that they did, boring, general, every day things. He was always the perfect gentleman, and always asked her to give Mr. And Mrs. Evans his best wishes. She didn't want to give them his best wishes. She wanted him to say that there were no girls in America like her, that he would give anything to see her again, that he wanted to make love to her… but no. He was a gentleman, born and raised.

She gently slid her pinky into the small opening that haven't been sealed in the envelope and nudged the flap open. Just as gently, she took out the piece of paper that had been folded in thirds. Reading slowly, to savor every word, she let her eyes glide over the letter.

_Dear Lily,_

_ Nothing much has changed around here. A couple of days ago Lucas and I found an apartment we liked. We're planning on renting it with another guy, Mike. He has a girlfriend. We met her the other day. She seems nice. In celebration of the apartment, Lucas and I went to a bar last night. He got drunk and I had to carry him home. He was going on and on about his girlfriend from France. _

_ My parents have already met all the friends they had before we moved to England. Over break, I overheard them talking about your family. I think they still keep in touch. Which is good. We might be going back to England over summer vacation. Maybe we'll stay near your house._

_ Still the same crowd at Salem. I think a couple of people here know students at Hogwarts. Alex was talking about her friend there, and I jumped at the mention of Hogwarts. _

_ There isn't too much interesting to say._

_ Send my regards to your parents, Mary-Ellen and Jo. _

_ Love,_

_ Ryan_

That was it.

The letter probably took him about two minutes to write.

He didn't care about her anymore.

But he _did_ say maybe they'll stay near her house. Does that mean he hopes they will? Or is he just stating it as a fact? Is Alex a guy or a girl?

No, no, she was being ridiculous. Why did it matter if he had a friend who was a girl? She was still his girlfriend. Did he still consider her his girlfriend?

And Mike had a girlfriend. Which meant that girls were bound to come over to his new apartment. What if someone hit on him? He said she seems nice. What does nice mean? Nice as in he thought she was cute or nice as in uninteresting? But she already had a boyfriend.

She reread the letter again, then a third time, then a fourth. By then, she could have recited the letter. She could probably recite all the letters. She took out the box she kept all the things that reminded her of him in, and carefully put the letter and envelope inside.

She sighed. Things would have been so much easier if he hadn't moved.

Break.

Their parents had been friends ever since they were in elementary school. They'd gone to the same school, but as fate had it, were never in the same classes. They both lived on the same street, the Evans being number 7 and the McKings being number 15. They had play dates together until they got into the "Girls have germs" and "Boys have cooties" stage.

Both having muggle parents, the letters from Hogwarts brought the families closer together, though Ryan and Lily never quite became good friends. They weren't enemies, but more like acquaintances. At dinner parties, there were always other kids to play with and the two of them never really hung out much.

They rode to Platform 9 ¾ in the same station wagon, came back in the same mini-van, but from the minute they were on that train, they went their separate ways to their own friends. Lily was sorted into Gryffindor while Ryan was sorted into Ravenclaw.

In fact, their … relationship didn't start until the summer before fifth year.

One night, Lily had had an argument with her mother. She stormed outside and had considered running off. Being that she didn't know any of the neighbors quite well enough to take refuge in their home, she stormed into her back woods.

There was a little stream there that she had played in when she was younger, and she decided to see where it led, using the moonlight as her source of light. She hiked along, dodging hanging branches and wet logs; she found it ended at a small pond, about twenty feet wide. There was an open space in the trees, which let the moonlight hit the water at just the right angle so that there appeared to be two large, full, moons.

She sat down by the edge of the pool and let her fingers skim the top of the water. It was quite humid, and in a moment of bravery, or perhaps stupidity, she took off her clothes and waded into the pool of water. It was about four feet deep, so Lily treaded water and swam around a little, enjoying her own solitaire.

After some while, she saw a shadow coming from out of the nearby trees. Thinking it was a wild animal, she stopped moving and held her breath, hoping it would go away.

It wasn't an animal.

You couldn't tell who was more surprised and embarrassed. Lily was blushing red to match the color of her hair, though thankfully the dark hid it. The boy, or man, quickly turned around and muttered sorry. Lily rushed to her pile of clothes and pulled them on, though it was a task since she hadn't dried off first.

She cleared her throat turned to leave. The other person turned around and started apologizing again. "Look, I'm really sorry. I didn't know anyone was here… Lily?"

"Err…" Lily replied. "Hi Ryan. Fancy meeting you here! I've never come here before. Do you come here a lot?" She was rambling. She forced herself to stop.

"Umm… look, I didn't see anything. I'm really sorry."

"It's alright. It's my fault really. I was just following the stream and seeing where it went and I don't know what possessed me but I've never gone skinny-dipping before and well! I'll just be leaving then!" And she started walking into the woods. When she realized that she didn't really know which way her house was. She turned around and walked back to the pond, where Ryan was still standing straight, looking baffled. "Could you point me in the right direction?"

"Yeah… I'll walk you home…" It was an awkward walk. They talked about everything and nothing, both trying to avoid talking about what had just happened.

"Well. Here we are." Lily said. "Thanks for walking me. Maybe we'll see each other later?"

"Yeah."

And they did see each other later. A lot, actually, between dinner parties and bumping into each other in random places. It wasn't that large of a town anyway. They talked a lot more and things went uphill from there. Movies, dinner… near the end of summer he asked her out. She said yes.

From that point on, they grew closer, not only as a couple but also as friends. They'd gone to all the dances together. They were even nominated as "Cutest Couple" and "Most Likely to Get Married" at Hogwarts their sixth year.

Lily sighed. That was all in the past. They'd probably both meet new people. Maybe he already had. She couldn't keep obsessing about him. She took out her favorite fountain pen and a new piece of parchment.

_Ryan,_

_ I don't think this is working out. We never see each other. Good luck and everything. I hope we'll still be friends._

_ Lily_

End.

**Disclaimer**: This goes for the entire story… Everything you recognize from Harry Potter is obviously JK Rowling's.

Some of the plot in this chapter comes from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but I changed it to fit my story, so _none_ of it is word by word. (Awesome book by the way, everyone should read it.)

Reviews greatly appreciated!

xoxo


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